La Planète des singes

Tous attendaient un film de science-fiction sérieux dans l'esprit de l'original de Schaffner, mais Tim Burton les a tous trompés en en faisant un film comique. Les plus grandes stars du film ne sont pas les humains, mais les singes, et la fin n'est pas choquante et réfléchie, mais divertissante comme un film de popcorn. La relation amoureuse triangulaire entre le héros américain Mark Wahlberg, la chimpanzée aux beaux yeux Helena Bonham Carter et la simple Barbie Estella Warren est tout aussi irrésistible que Tim Roth dans le rôle détestable du général Thade. Le film ne manque pas d'une exécution technique brillante, de férocité, d'action et d'une dose d'ironie. J'ai applaudi et ri de bon cœur à la fin. J'ai failli tomber amoureux des yeux de la chimpanzée Carter - elle ornait mon bureau pendant plusieurs mois après la première. Ne prenez pas ce film trop au sérieux. Les temps changent et tout le monde ne doit pas voir l'histoire de La Planète des singes comme l'a fait Schaffner. (27/05/2002)

Properly as wacky as you’d expect from Burton, with flawless sets and make-up effects, and a surprisingly bland Wahlberg. Overall, I would have liked it, but the incredibly idiotic final half hour, including a very weird ending, put a damper on everything. According to the reviews, not many people understood it, and I appreciate the ending in the older classic version all the more. (11/05/2003)

The film has an incredibly gloomy screenplay that stubbornly clings to one plotline, which, on its own, wouldn't be enough for even 20 minutes. And unfortunately, even Tim Burton wasn’t able to breathe life into it through visual finesse. Although the film dazzles with its grand production design and impeccable masks, the narrative emptiness inevitably plunges the viewer into boredom. The film has unquestionable strengths, including the mentioned ones such as the casting, camera work, and excellent music by Danny Elfman. However, there is still a lingering feeling that the two-hour runtime should have been trimmed by at least a good 30 minutes. This would have left us with an audiovisual extravaganza in which Burton's great sense of humor would shine even brighter, as evidenced by the excellent final scene and the closing credits remixed by DJ Paul Oakenfold. (04/12/2005)

The new Planet of the Apes isn't significantly bad, boring, badly acted, visually unappealing or anything. Its problem is simply that it is not even the exact opposite of the above. What's more, it's irritating in its pointlessness. (20/03/2005)

No killing of the original is taking place. Wahlberg acts as the captain of the ship sympathetically, the tricks work throughout the entire duration, and even an interesting variation of the final twist pleases. It's just simply a "remake of Planet of the Apes" and that brings a slightly higher expectation. (23/06/2006)

More of a parody of the original film. Visually stunning, with some of the typical elements of Tim Burton. The action is decent and the make-up effects are truly masterful. The plot, on the other hand, lacks drive and not much actually happens overall, to put it simply. Helena Bonham Carter and Mark Wahlberg are pretty decent, but the most captivating by far is the demonic Tim Roth. The ending is at least peculiar, and there are also a few clear blunders and mistakes, but despite all this, Planet of the Apes remains a skillfully made summer blockbuster with typical genre attributes. Whether this mess was intentional will likely remain a mystery forever, but I must admit that I was quite entertained. (30/04/2006)

No matter what anyone else says, I surprisingly liked Burton's Planet of the Apes. It is a decent remake, both in terms of the stunning visuals and also the plot. In addition to that, seeing Helena Bonham-Carter as an ape provided a memorable experience ;) (25/07/2008)

Someone has already written about it before me. The masks and overall production are absolutely captivating, but when the story is bad, there's simply nothing that can be done about it. Burton could have tried as much as he wanted, but nothing better could have been squeezed out of this script. The ending tried to surpass the original film, which was a great courage, and now the creators should repent. (06/08/2014)